Programme structure

Year 1, autumn semester
In term 1, the student chooses one of three obligatory courses (15 credits): International Politics, Governance and the State and The Politics of Development. In the second half of the semester, students take the compulsory proficiency course “Methods” (15 credits).

Please note that the obligatory courses cannot be exchanged against an elective course of semester 2.

Year 1, spring semester
In semester 2, students have the choice of deepen and broaden their studies in the field of political science. The courses offered in period one include: Comparative Politics (15 credits), The State and Its Challenges: War and Migration (15 credits) and Welfare Politics in a Global Perspective (15 credits). In period two the following courses are offered: European Integration (15 credits), Political Sociology (15 credits) and Reviewing Prior Research (15 credits). Those students who wish to terminate their studies with a one-year master’s degree must write an essay during the second part of the semester (15 credits).

Year 2, autumn semester
Semester 3 is devoted to the degree project for which the student a required to complete a Master’s thesis (30 credits). Before you can enrol in this course, you must have successfully completed the Methods course, 15 credits plus (in principle) all the other courses in the programme. There is the option for students not wishing to write their Master`s thesis in tem 3 to take additional courses within the department in period one, and outside the department in period two.

Year 2, spring semester
In semester 4, students have the opportunity to do an internship in Sweden or abroad in order to gain professional experience. We offer internship placements in Sweden and abroad. You may also search for an interesting placement yourself.

For those students who choose not to do an internship, the department offers the elective courses of semester 2. It may also be possible to complete the Master’s thesis this semester.

Mandatory and optional courses
To summarize, for the two-year Master’s Programme students are required to take one of the three 15 credits courses given in the beginning of the autumn semester; the 15 credits Methods course in the second half of the first semester; and the Master’s Thesis course in the third semester. The remaining 60 credits are optional. Half of these, 30 credits, must be on advanced level; the remaining 30 credits may be on Bachelor’s level. You may take these 60 credits in our department, or you may decide to take all or some of these credits in other departments or universities. Note that the 30 credit internship is counted as a Bachelor-level course.